When It's Right(41)
Still, living on the ranch could be hard on some people. Forty-five miles from town, nothing to do out here but work and live a quiet life, care for the horses, and do an endless amount of chores. Mostly men worked the ranch. Women could feel isolated and lonely for company they could relate to. He didn’t want to see that happen to Gillian. He wanted her to be happy here. He’d do anything and everything in his power to make that happen.
Bud set Gillian away and held her shoulders in his hands. “So, tell me what interests you about the ranch.”
“I don’t really know. I’ve never been around horses, so I don’t know what jobs there are to do.”
Blake tried to help her out. “What kind of work did you do in the city? Maybe we can apply something you did there to working here.”
“Well, I was a waitress at a restaurant near the wharf. That was four nights a week. I washed dishes in Chinatown for cash and takeout. I unloaded fish from the boats at the dock for cash. Two days a week, I worked as a bookkeeper at a garage. I did oil changes and basic repairs on occasion. I did a lot of one-off jobs whenever I could get the work. Things like handing out flyers, selling tickets, filling in for vendors at the pier, babysitting, and pretty much anything that came my way. I took auto shop, woodshop, typing, and basic accounting in school. I can balance a checkbook, make small repairs, fix basic problems on engines . . .” She trailed off with a shrug. “None of which will help around here, I guess.”
“How many hours a week did you work?” Blake couldn’t believe she’d been going to school, working, and raising Justin pretty much on her own.
“As many as I could fit in. The waitressing and bookkeeping were on the books. You can only work so many hours when you’re under eighteen. I had to supplement that with work off the books. Unloading fish at the docks is dirty and smelly, but it pays well and in cash. The same was true for many of the other odd jobs. I needed the cash for Justin. Sometimes my dad would shake me down or just steal what he could find. Mrs. Wicks watched Justin in exchange for my doing odd jobs for her like grocery shopping and cleaning house. Preschool was expensive, but I managed.”
“You paid for Justin to go to preschool.” Both Blake and Bud exchanged a look.
“It was important he learned to socialize with other kids before kindergarten. Spending the day with Mrs. Wicks, who’s seventy-nine, isn’t socializing. He needed more, and I made sure he got it.”
“Of course you did,” was all Blake could say. That she would think of Justin’s needs like that at the age of seventeen or eighteen said a lot about the kind of mother she was. She didn’t just make sure he had food in his belly and clothes on his back. No, she made sure his education and social skills were taken care of as well. She’d lived her whole life with next to nothing, and here she’d gone and made sure Justin got the best she could provide.
“Basically, nothing that I did before will help with the horses or the ranch.”
“Not true,” Blake put in. “You’ve got a lot going for you. The only thing against you at the moment is the fact that your hand is in a cast. You seem to have limited use of your other hand.”
“It’s getting better.”
“Still, that’s going to limit you for a while. Why don’t we start with Boots? You’re in charge of him. He loves you, and I’d like your help nursing him back to health. After that, we’ll find you something to do. It will also get you involved with the ranch, and you might find something you like, or that likes you.”
“Likes me?”
“You never know what you’ll find you’re good at. You didn’t know you had a knack with wild, wounded horses. You do. We’ll start with that and build on it. You said you know some basic accounting and kept the books for a garage. I have the horrible job of taking care of all the paperwork and accounting for the ranch. Maybe you could help me out there once you have your hands back.”
“Okay, so Boots is my responsibility. He needs a bath. I can’t do that.” She bit her lip, defeat clouding her eyes. She failed before she started, or so she thought.
Not true. He’d prove it to her. “You can’t get your cast wet, but you can hold him and keep him calm while I wash him down. We’ll take care of it when we get back from town. We’ll work together.” He liked that.
“Which reminds me,” Bud cut in. “I made an appointment for you at the school to get Justin registered. He’ll start on Monday, like you wanted. I also made an appointment with the doctor at the clinic. Dr. Bell is an orthopedic surgeon who fills in at the clinic sometimes. She wants to check out your stitches and knee. According to your medical records, you should have had them checked by now.”